1949 Campagnolo Gran Sport

One of the First


Tulio Campagnolo is generally credited with inventing the first parallelogram derailleur. While there is strong evidence he was beaten to the punch by others, there can be no argument that Tulio and his company ushered in the era of the modern derailleur with the 1949 introduction of the Campagnolo Gran Sport.  And even if a derailleur by a German company, Nivex, did predate the Gran Sport, this derailleur mounted to the frames chainstay in contrast to the Campagnolo, which like almost all modern derailleurs thereafter, mounted to the rear dropout.   To this day almost all derailleurs utilize the parallelogram design and Campagnolo is still the world's premier bicycle component manufacturer.

To be clear, there were other gear changers and derailleurs before the Gran Sport, such as the plunger-type, and I will discuss some of these in future posts. My personal pre-Gran Sport favorite is another Campagnolo product, the death defying Campagnolo Cambio Corsa (really, this one is crazy), but none of this other changers even begin to hold a torch to the importance of Tulio's Gran Sport.

The Gran Sport wasn't actually introduced for sale until the early 50's and it went through quite a bit of design change before it took off.  The version of the derailleur that would persist through the 50's and into the 60's was introduced in 1953.  The earlier versions from 1951 and 1952 can bring huge money.  There was a nice example of a '51 version listed on ebay for $1500 as I wrote this.  The derailleur featured here is a relatively early one from about 1955.  It might be worth $100-150 to the right collector: it just isn't that rare.

Dating a Gran Sport can be difficult but I will try to give some pointers: (1) if there is a derailleur cable adjuster, it was likely produced in the 50's or at the latest 1960; (2) if the spring cover is 5mm instead of 8mm or 10mm, it is from 1956 or earlier; and (3) if the pulley cage has 6 spring adjustment holes instead of 3, it is 1956 or earlier.  My version has a 5mm spring cover but three adjustment holes, likely dating it to 1955 or 1956.

You will note the brassing here and there where the chrome plating has worn through. These derailleurs were largely made of bronze not steel or aluminum.  The astute observer will notice something else curious about my example - the inner pulley cage is upside down!  I really do need to fix this.

Other features of this derailleur that differs from later derailleurs include the use of steel pulleys spun on ball bearings.  Further, the pulley cage pivot is centered between the upper and lower pulleys.  In later derailleur designs including the original Campagnolo Record introduced around 1962, the pivot is located closer to the upper pulley.

Enjoy the photos.